Pirates Move to Tourney Finals

The Pirates' women's basketball team moved to the finals of the Wild West Shootout at West Los Angeles College in Culver City Saturday with a 63-52 win over College of the Canyons. Kylie Gallick had her second double-double in as many games with 19 points and 13 rebounds and featured a 9-9 shooting performance from the free throw line. Sofia Torres-Reyes totaled 16 points while Jocelyn Contreras broke into double-figures for the first time as a Pirate with 10 points.

While the Pirates (2-0) had difficulty making shots from the floor in the beginning of the contest, they did make it to the free throw line early and often. VC cored their first nine points of the game from the charity stripe as they trailed 12-9 after Alina Olivo sank a pair of charity shots. The Cougars responded with another bucket at the 1:09 mark to extend the lead back to five before Alexis Howery made VC's first field goal, a 3-pointer, with 48 seconds remaining in the quarter. Haley Bennett assisted an inside bucket from Gallick in the closing seconds of the period and the teams went to the quarter break tied at 14.

After Canyons opened the second quarter with a deuce, Torres-Reyes went on a personal 8-0 run. She hit from downtown at the 8:20 mark to give Ventura a 17-16 lead, then connected on a pull up jumper a minute later. Torres-Reyes finally hit another shot from range with 6:16 remaining in the half to make it 22-16 for the Pirates. The Cougars scored a deuce at the 5:50 mark, then connected on a free throw two minutes later before Alondra Alatorre ended a three-minute scoring drought with a strong drive down the middle for two. CoC made one more field goal in the period before Gallick hit for an old-fashioned 3-point play, and another field goal, in the final minute to lead Ventura to a 29-21 halftime margin.

Gallick started off the second half where she left off, sandwiching a pair of inside scores around a short jumper from Bennett to extend the advantage to 35-26. An offensive rebound and bucket from Dani Henley and two free throws from Bennett maintained a 41-33 lead, and Torres-Reyes scored in the final minute of the third quarter to send the game into the final 10 minutes of play with VC ahead 47-35.

Canyons went on an 11-2 run to begin the final stanza, making the score 49-47 with 5:18 on the clock, before Contreras came up big for the second night in a row. She hit a 3-pointer from the right corner off a Gallick dime to hold off the Cougars, then after two free shots from Torres-Reyes, she did it again to make it 57-50 with 2:39 remaining. Contreras hit a short jumper on the next possession before Gallick closed out the 63-52 victory with two charity tosses and a field goal.

Bennett, making her first start as a Pirate, scored seven points with five rebounds. Contreras handed out three assists while Torres Reyes-totaled two helpers with two steals. Gallick also dropped a pair of dimes in the game.

Ventura advances to the championship game of the tournament on Sunday Nov. 13 against the host school, West Los Angeles. Tip-off in Culver City is slated for 5:00 pm.